BWW Preview: Coachella Valley Repertory Premieres a New Serio-Comedy, Starring Gavin MacLeod

Coachella Valley Repertory (CVRep) in Rancho Mirage, California, starts its 2015-16 season on October 28th with the world premiere of HAPPY HOUR, written by George Eastman, starring Gavin MacLeod and John Hawkinson, and directed by CVRep's artistic director, Ron Celona. Mr. MacLeod, who lives in the Coachella Valley, said in 2014 that he got involved in the the project because he loves CVRep's work.

HAPPY HOUR, a comedy with serious elements, explores the dynamics of a parent-child relationship as both father and son face a life altering dilemma: The father, Harry Townsend (Mr. MacLeod's character) is unable to live on his own but refuses to leave the dream retirement home he built with his late wife. The cantankerous Harry fears that he will surrender his identities as an independent man and a husband if he gives in and moves to an assisted living facility, where he will lose ever-present memories of his beloved wife. Harry uses humor and obstinacy to deflect his son's relentless campaign.

CVRep held two separate groups of staged readings in April and December, 2014, as Mr. Eastman and Mr. Celona revised the script. Mr. MacLeod appeared in both, with award-winning Palm Springs actor Michael Shaw (artistic director of Dezart Performs), taking the role of the son. After the December reading, Mr. Celona told the audience that he had worked on revisions by phone with Mr. Easton, who lives in Maine. Together, they cut about a half hour from the original version and rewrote Act II.

After the readings, Mr. Celona and Mr. Eastman continued amending the script long-distance. Now that the production is in rehearsal, Mr. Celona said that he and Mr. Eastman are working on additional rewrites, as is common with a new play. Mr. Celona noted that, during the rehearsal process, when the script, the actors' styles, the set, and even the venue itself come together for the first time, a director may decide on new script changes.

Mr. Eastman, who is a retired teacher as well as a writer, got the idea for HAPPY HOUR from watching his father's decline and concluding that elderly people need something to do in order to feel important. He told Broadway World in December that HAPPY HOUR is the first play he's written that has "gone anywhere," although he did win a contest with a one-act submission a long time ago, and a community theater produced a play in 1973 that he co-wrote.

All four CVRep productions for 2015-16 contain the underlying theme of Identity: Lost and Found. The other three productions are:

A CLASS ACT, Music & Lyrics by Edward Kleban, Book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price (January 20 - February 14, 2016). This biographical musical about Ed Kleban, the Tony award-winning lyricist for A CHORUS LINE, dramatizes Ed's often hilarious, ultimately heartbreaking journey. Ed's goal was to write both the words and music for a Broadway show, but only after his death of cancer at the age of 48 did his dream come true.

I AM MY OWN WIFE, by Doug Wright (March 9 - March 27, 2016). Before there was Hedwig, there was Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, with whom the playwright conducted interviews over several years. The play tells the fascinating tale of the real-life German transgendered woman who managed to survive both the Nazi onslaught and the repressive East German Communist regime, but often resorted to nefarious means to do so.

4000 MILES, by Amy Herzog (April 20 - May 8, 2016). After suffering a major loss on a cross-country bike trip, 21-year-old Leo moves in with his feisty 91-year-old grandmother. Over the course of a month, these unlikely roommates infuriate, bewilder, and ultimately touch each other's souls.

Subscriptions for three and four plays for the 2015-2016 season are on sale now. Individual tickets are $43 per person for previews (the first Wednesday and Thursday nights of each run), $58 for the first Friday night of each run (when there is a reception after the show), and $48 for other performances. See the web site, www.CVRep.org, for more information, or call the box office at 760-296-2966. For group sales, please contact Shari Lipman, box office manager at 760-296-2966, extension 101.

Evening Shows start at 7:30pm. Matinees (Saturdays and Sundays) start at 2:00pm. CVRep is located in The Atrium, at 69-930 Highway 111, Suite 116, in Rancho Mirage.